


He would never leave me, would he?

by LovingErina



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-08 15:46:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5503511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovingErina/pseuds/LovingErina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My shadow is my best friend.<br/>The one who always stayed beside me.</p>
<p>But then he came.</p>
<p>And he left just as soon as he came.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just a normal day, I guess.

My shadow is my best friend. He follows me everywhere, except where it’s dark. I don’t mind, he must be scared, that’s probably why he hides. Just like me. My only friend, my shadow. He doesn’t talk much, though. It’s mostly a one-sided conversation. My mother calls me crazy, but she’s even crazier herself. My dad left us long ago.

Other kids laugh at me. But when they do, I smile at my shadow and tell him to ignore them. They don’t hurt me, so I let them laugh as much as they want. Only my mum hurts me sometimes. My sister said she takes bad things called drugs. She also drinks bad stuff, alcohol. My sister told me to never be like her. I won’t, never. I don’t want to be as crazy as her.

That was when I was seven or eight years old. I’m sixteen now, my seventeenth birthday is coming soon. My sister is studying medicines in the USA, so I’m left alone with my mom, my shadow and my new friend: the son of the new neighbors. He’s already seventeen, and has a little sister. Her name’s kinda cute, it’s Rosie. His name is Eren. He’s originally from Germany, but he can speak English really well. He even said he wanted to teach me some German sometime.

School is going pretty well, to be honest. Eren has joined my school this new semester, and he already has more friends in two weeks than I had in 4 years. But, he always makes time for me. Even when his friends tell him to ignore me, he comes to me for a small talk. Only Armin is sometimes nice to me. Jean detests me. Connie has no opinion about me; he’s mostly too busy with Sasha. Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt are in a world of their own. Christa and Ymir are best friends, and also they just plainly ignore me. Mikasa is just scary. She’s from Japan, and a master in martial arts. Her expression is already deadly. Levi is like the head of my class. He’s one year older than all of us, and he ignores everyone, not only me. He seems to hang around with Erwin and Hanji from a class higher. Hanji is a bit weird. She’s obsessed with the human being, and wants to know everything there is to know about it. Nobody knows why, though. Oh, I forgot about Marco. Everyone forgets about Marco, actually. He sometimes hangs around Jean and Armin.

As expected, it’s just a normal morning. A greeting from Eren, a weird stare from Jean and a laugh from Annie. Reiner and Bertholdt turn their backs towards me as I sit down in the back of the class. The sun appears from behind the clouds, and it looks as if my shadow is smiling at me. I smile back, and get my books. Eren sits down in front of me with Armin. Both of them smile at me, and get their books as the teacher gets impatient. He rants about our slowness before starting the lesson.

At lunch I quietly eat my sandwich. “Can I sit with you?” Eren asks me from behind. “Uh, sure,” I answer him without looking away from my sandwich. He walks around the table and takes a seat across mine. We’re finally having a normal conversation (which means I actually answer normally), as Levi interrupts us. “Can I talk to you for a second?” he asks Eren, before walking away again. Eren excuses himself and quickly follows Levi. I sigh soft and mumble: “So it’s us again,” to my shadow and finish my sandwich.

I turn around from shock when I feel a hand on my shoulder, telling me to stop walking. “Here, you forgot your book,” Eren says, gives me my book back and runs back to Armin. I don’t even have time to thank him. I shrug it off and continue walking home in a fast pace. Mom drank way to much last night, so I hope she's doing fine right now. I unlock the front door and almost trip over a cushion. Wait, what? I pick it up and walk to the living room, where I find my mother sleeping on the couch. I place the cushion back on the couch and go upstairs. I throw the cat of my bed, and lay down on it myself. “Yah!” my mother yells upstairs. “Make me some food!” She mumbles something extra, but it’s too soft for me to hear. Probably something not nice.

Downstairs, in the kitchen, the phone rings. Mom doesn’t react, she probably fell asleep again. “Hello, who’s this?” I say as I pick it up. “Hey!” Eren says on the other side. “First, I want to say sorry for staying away the whole break today. It was a bit urgent. Second, do you want to hang out tomorrow with me, Jean and Armin? Maybe Marco comes too.” I look at my mom, who’s still asleep. “Um, sure,” I answer, although I’m not really sure. “Yay! I have to hang up now, Rosie isn’t really well and she’s about to vomit. Bye!” Unnecessary information. I finish the sandwich for my mom, place it on the table, grab my jacket and walk outside. The smell of alcohol makes me sick. Homework can be done later.

I put my earphones in my ears and make my way to the park. That’s probably the only place my mind can be free. My shadow follows me like every day. What time would it be in America? Around 1 PM, sis is probably at school. I sigh and sit down on a bench. I close my eyes for a second, but opening them right away when the sun disappeared. The sun was still there, but Hanji blocked it, without Levi and Erwin this time. “Yo!” she says, happy as always. I turn my head away from her. I don’t feel like talking, especially not with her. “What’s wrong?” she asks me. “Nothing,” I answered quickly. Too quick. “Really?” she continues. “Just leave me alone,” I mutter. She looks at me while fixing her glasses. “Fine.” Then she quickly leaves me. She walks to two other persons, a small one and a tall one. So she wasn’t alone after all.

 “Where were you?” is the first thing I hear when I get back home. “I was outside,” I answer my mom. She snorts and turns around, back to the living room. I don’t follow her, I go upstairs instead. It’s already 5:30 PM. I suppress my hunger and start making my homework. It isn’t that much. Before you ask, yes, I always make my homework on Friday, so I have the whole weekend off. To do what? Nothing. Well, tomorrow with Eren. And the others. I wonder how Jean will react when he sees me. He’ll probably yell something at me. If Marco’s there, he would stay quiet. Just like Armin, I think. Maybe Eren will stop him. Well, we’ll see.


	2. Forgotten ice cream.

Eren is faster than me. “Hi!” he greets me, as he waits in front of my door. I smile a little, unsure of the situation. “Jean and Armin are waiting for us in the park, come!” He is as happy as a little kid, running away before I could say anything. I just follow him, what else can I do?

Armin waves at his friend when he catches sight of us. Jean’s smiling face turns into a hateful one. “Why is he here?” he asks, not even looking at me. “I thought it would be fun if he came too,” Eren says, laying an arm around my shoulder. “Let’s all have fun, okay?” Jean sighs while rolling his eyes. Eren proposes to play soccer, and Armin quickly agrees. He’s one of the best soccer players at school. The thing is: Eren paired me with Jean. Eren ignores him when he yells he wants to be with Armin, and quickly starts the game. “You better do well,” Jean whispers to me, and steals the ball from Eren.  
We all sit down after almost two hours of playing soccer. Eren and Armin won: 3-2. Jean is still furious. I can’t help it, I’m better at hockey than soccer. I don’t hate soccer, but I won’t say I like it either. Eren is away to get us some ice cream. “I told you to do well!” Jean suddenly yells to me. “And what did you do? You didn’t!” Armin nudges Jean’s shoulder. “He made one goal, though,” he says. Jean laughs. Well, if you can call that laughing. “That was pure luck! It was only because you tripped!” Jean continues. “You’re terrible.” He’s right. I am.

“Jean fucking Kirschtein!” Eren yells as he comes back. “Don’t ever tell him he’s terrible because he’s not!” Jean slowly tilts his head to the side. “And why? He’s a failure!” Armin tries to calm both of them down, but it’s no use. Nobody thinks about the ice cream, they’re all on the ground already. My eyes widen when Eren grabs my hand and runs away from Jean and Armin. “Fool,” I hear Armin say to Jean before we disappeared.

What do I do? “Hey, dude, you’re okay? You look terrified,” Eren says. “Eh? Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I guess,” I quickly say. He pulls me into a tight hug and rubs my back. “You can always call me if you’re in trouble, okay?” I nod and he lets me go. He ruffles my hair before running away again. “Got to check if Armin is still alive!” he yells before he gets out of sight.

I don’t want to go home, but I don’t want to stay here either. Dilemma. My shadow is on my right, so I go that way. We’ll see where we end up.

Home. Within a few minutes I’m home again. Maybe my shadow really wanted to go home. With a sigh I enter my house, only to find out my mom isn’t home. I sigh from relief this time, and order a pizza for myself. I think she’s at the pub or something. The bell rings. That is fast. I want to take the pizza and give the delivery guy his money, but instead I look into the eyes of my mom. “Who’s that guy?” I ask her, and let her and a rather tall man in. “This is Evan. Don’t be so rude, think of your manners,” my mother answers me. She smiles at Evan and apologizes for the mess. She made it herself, though. Evan reaches his hand out to me, a smile plastered on his face. “Nice to meet you,” he says. I ignore his hand as the pizza guy arrives. I give him his money and go upstairs. What the fuck does that Evan guy want from my mother. I know she’s not really nice to me, but she’s still my mother.

“Hey little one,” my sister says that evening. I smile and wave. “So, how are you doing?” she asks, in the meantime grabbing a snack. “Fine. Nothing special is happening,” I answer. “Hm.” She swallows before continuing. “I’m fine also, thanks for asking.” I smile softly and tell her to wait for a second. I put my headphones next to me and listen to my mother laughing downstairs. That’s rare. “What’s wrong?” my sister asks me when I put my headphones back on. “Mom has a new guy. His name is Evan,” I tell her. “Evan, hm? What is he like?” she asks me. “He’s tall and smiles a lot. I don’t know anything more, I fled upstairs with my pizza.” She starts to laugh, but becomes serious again right after. “You know, I have to tell you something. Don’t tell mom yet, okay?” I nod and she continues. “I have a boyfriend.” Her doorbell rings. “Oh! Speak of the devil!” She smirks and disappears from the screen. “Little one, meet Trace.” A man, probably a little older than my sister, sits down next to her. “Your sister has told me a lot about you,” he says. “Nice to meet you.” My sister smiles at him, then looks back to me. “What’s wrong? You look so sad,” she says and pouts. “Little one can’t be sad.” Of course I am sad. Maybe I’m losing my sister also.


	3. Attack on me.

“Sis? Can I, eh, speak to you alone for a little while?” My eyes are focused on Trace, I hope he takes good care of her. They whisper and laugh at the other side. Trace waves at me as he leaves the screen. “Now, what’s up?” she asks. “Does Trace treat you well?” She looks kinda shocked. “O-of course,” she stutters. “Why did you ask that?” I shrug. “I don’t want you to be hurt by him.” She laughs before answering me. “Don’t you worry, I’ll be fine.” Fine, just like last time? Was that really fine? I still fucking hate that guy.

The Sunday goes by fast and the Monday which follows was quite normal. Well, except for the fact Jean was sick. I didn’t mind, though. A little rest is okay, right? Ah, I wanted to talk about today, Tuesday. I like Tuesdays. It’s the day when we have arts. The only subject I can actually relax. A bonus is that the teacher likes me. She’s pretty nice, I have to say. But today… fucking Reiner Braun thinks he’s funny. Well, the whole class thought so, so he wasn’t exactly wrong. Just when I was about to finish my painting  (it took me around ten lessons to finish it), Reiner decides to knock over my cup of water which I used to clean my brushes with. He, Berthold and Connie started to laugh, and soon the whole class went crazy. The teacher sent Reiner to the principal, but I don’t think it would help much. I heard it later though, I fled to the toilets. To cry. Yes, I cried. A lot. I didn’t even stop when Eren knocked on the door, asking if I was okay. Of course I wasn’t. My painting, the one I cherished so much, ruined. It sounds kinda stupid, doesn’t it? Crying your heart out because of a _painting. A goddamn painting._ I had a whole back story written about it. The boy on the painting lost his whole family to the creatures called ‘Titans’, who he was now facing with his best friends. He wanted revenge. Revenge for his family. Maybe the boy was me. Not revenge on my family, revenge on life. What it has done to me. Ah, the painting…

The bell rings. Who could it be at this hour? Oh, Eren. Of course. “Are you okay?” he asks. “You went home after arts, right? I’m so sorry for your painting, Reiner didn’t-“ I laugh, laugh so hard. “Reiner didn’t do it on purpose? Did you even see his face? His grin? Of course he didn’t do it on purpose. Oh no, why would he? Maybe because he fucking hates me? Like everyone else? Nice try, Eren. Nice try.” As the door falls shut, I feel my cheeks getting wet. Was I too harsh? It is the truth, though. The bell rings again. I open it, it’s probably Eren again. I get pushed to the side and I hear heels clacking beside me. Mom. “Hey! Can’t you just normally ask him to step aside?” Oh God, Eren… My mother laughs. “He’s just a useless brat, no need to be nice to him.” She closes the door and walks upstairs. “Make me some food, and be quick.” She can go to hell. “Go make that food yourself.” To avoid her kick, I quickly open the door and run outside, only to bump into Eren. He tightly wraps his arms around me, and I finally start to cry. I don’t even care anymore. My mother hates me. I have no idea who my father is. My shadow is behind me, like he’s saying: “I’ve got your back. I don’t hate you.” And Eren. He’s the one. The one I needed. The one to save me. “Let’s go to my house, okay? You can stay there for a few days,” Eren says after a while. Just in time Eren closes the front door, as I hear raindrops falling on the ground. “Wait here.” Eren walks away to discuss something with his mother. “The poor kid!” she exclaims. Something falls and she screams again. “Mom, it’s just the spoon!” Eren yells back. Suddenly, I got tackled and I fall on the floor. “Ah, Rosie! You scared me!” I laugh. She smiles sweetly and helps me standing back up. Still holding my hand, she takes me to the kitchen, where Eren and his mom are freaking out because the spoon his mother used to stir the soup with fell on the ground. “Apologize,” she says. “To what, the spoon? That’s not even my fault! And why the hell would I apologize to a _spoon_?” Eren defends himself. I bend down and pick the spoon up. “Sorry, spoon. It’s my fault.” Eren’s mom points at me, still looking at her son. “He has manners, and you could learn a lot from him, Eren.” He stares weirdly at her, then at me. He mutters something which I can’t hear, but his mother apparently does. “Mister Jeager! Don’t say such things in front of your little sister!” she yells. Does it always go like this here? I wonder where his father is… I feel a hand on my shoulder. Shocked, I turn around and see Eren’s father. What a coincidence. “Carla, please calm down a bit. This fellow must now have a weird image of you,” he says. Eren’s mom mutters an apology and gets back to the soup.

“It was lovely, the soup,” I say after dinner.  Only if my mother could cook such delicious food… Eren’s mom smiles after the compliment. “It was the best, mom!” Rosie shouts. All of us laugh and I stand up. “I’ll do the dishes, it’s the least I can do,” I suggest and begin collecting the cups, but Eren’s father stops me. “You don’t have to, I’ll do them. Why don’t you and Eren go play some games?” he says while taking the plates from me. I smile at him, thanking him. Eren immediately grabs my wrist and takes me upstairs to his room. Through the open window I see a car driving away, my mom’s. Eren notices me staring outside, and lays an arm around my shoulders. “Why don’t we get your stuff now?” he suggests. “Yeah…” I can’t finish my sentence as Eren hugs me. That’s when I notice I was crying. Why? My mom’s a total asshole. But, she’s still my mother… She raised me and my sister with care. It went wrong when my father left us. My sister still remembers him, she sometimes told me funny stories about him. I was only three when he left. The first four years went quite well. But after a certain man (I don’t like remembering him) came in my mother’s life, it went down really fast. She began using alcohol and drugs. She went to clubs with her ‘friends’. She would come home drunk with a man, even a woman sometimes, and they would have fun all night. I always wondered what that fun was, if I would like it too. But my sister always refused to tell me. I know better now.

What time is it? Three a.m., perfect. Eren snores. How long have I been awake already? At least an hour. I can’t stop thinking about my mother, about where she is. She hasn’t come back since she left. I’m a bit worried. Like, she could be laying at the side of the road, too drunk to know what’s going on. Or dead. No, I don’t want to think about it. “Are you okay?” Eren whispers. Ah, he woke up. “I’m fine,” I whisper back. “You’re not cold?” he continues. “A little, but it’s fine,” I answer. He holds up his blanket and says: “It’s warmer here, come.” I stare wide-eyed at him. “B-but, you’re a boy, a-and…” I stutter, but eventually I’m forced into his bed. I feel myself burning up, he’s way too close. “You really don’t mind?” I ask again, just to be sure. “If I would then I would be lying to myself.” Huh? “Haven’t I told you yet? I’m gay."


	4. Questionable love and Hanji.

He’s… gay? A boy like him is gay? Oh, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against gay people. It’s just.. I wouldn’t expect it from him. He’s quite popular amongst girls at school because of his looks. Plus, he has an amazing personality. I heard even Mikasa has an eye on him. But, he’s gay. I have a chance. Wait, what am I saying? He probably won’t fall for a loser like me. By the way, since when am I gay also?

“Hey, wake up. Mom made us breakfast and you have 30 minutes left till we gotta go to school.” I rub the sleep out of my eyes and blink a few times. Where am I? Oh yeah, at Eren’s place. In his bed. With one of his pajamas on. Thirty minutes till school. I can make that. As I walk downstairs, Rosie greets me with a hug. “Good morning little one,” I say and ruffle her hair. She giggles at the nickname, and takes me to the table. She had a whole different reaction at the nickname than I had. I was angry at my sister, because “I’m not little!”. I quickly eat my breakfast and Eren and I make our way to school. Now guess who just happens to be there. If you guessed Jean, 10 points for you. “Oi, Eren, what are you doing with that brat?” he asks, swinging an arm around Eren’s shoulders. “First of all, he’s not a brat. Second, he’s staying with me for the time being,” Eren answers calmly, brushing Jean’s arm from his shoulders. If Jean’s eyes were guns, I would’ve been dead. Luckily, we reach school, so I run away from the two to our arts teacher. She probably already knows what happened yesterday, but I need to ask her about my mark. “I saw how much effort you put into it, and I saw how absolutely beautiful it was before it got ruined. I gave you an A for it, don’t worry,” she says. I want to hug her, but that would be a little weird, right? So I just thank her very much, and then run to my first lesson.

A prom? Friday? I stare weirdly at Eren. “Didn’t you hear about it?” he asks. I shake my head. I don’t really care, I probably won’t go anyway. “You’ll come, right? Please?” Puppy eyes. Can’t say no to them. “Fine then,” I sigh. Eren smiles and hugs me. “Now, let’s find a date for you…” What, a date? Like, as in a girl? But, who wants to go out with me? Everyone we ask either already has a date, doesn’t go or just plainly says no. “Let’s give up, Eren. You won’t find anyone who wants to out with me,” I say almost half an hour later. “I’m not going to give up, we will find you a date.” Such confidence.. for nothing.

Today is the prom. I still don’t have a date. Eren is going with Mikasa (since you only got in for free if as a boy you went with a girl and vice-versa), Jean with Christa (how?), Armin with Annie. I see happy couples walking towards the school. I took place on a bench, asking myself why the hell I’m here. Someone sits next to me, a girl. She wears black heels and a long, dark blue dress. “You’re alone, too?” she asks. It’s Hanji. “Hanji?” I ask. I look up and the first thing I notice are her eyes. She’s crying. “What happened, Hanji?” She takes off her glasses and wipes some of her tears away, but they keep coming. “Maybe you know, but I was supposed to go with Erwin. I like him. Like a lot. But like an hour ago, he called me telling me he was sick so he couldn’t make it. I bet he thought I would stay home also, since I just saw him walking and holding hands with another girl. One way prettier than me, of course. I mean, why would he even like me back? I’m so stupid, oh so stupid…” She continues crying in my lap. I let her be. I understand how she feels. Why would he even like me back? Not just one person. Everyone. Why won’t they like me back? “Say, Hanji.. um, why don’t we go together? I mean, we’re both alone, but I understand if you don’t want to be seen with me, because, you know…” She shuts me up by placing a hand over my mouth. “I don’t care, let’s go.” I had the best night of my life thus far.

Next Monday at school, I her some girls whispering about Eren. “Have you already heard? Apparently Eren en Levi kissed.” Eren and Levi. Kissed. Wait, what? Kissed? I know Eren is gay, but, Levi? He surely doesn’t look gay. But what does a gay person even look like? I should ask him after school. Eren and Levi kissed. Thinking about it, it gives me a weird feeling in my stomach. Why? It’s not like I’m in love with Eren. Maybe I do, though. The same feeling I got when Jean had his arm around Eren’s shoulders. I mean, he can do what he wants. It’s not like Eren’s mine, and he won’t ever be. I feel sick thinking about it. He took care of me when my mother kind of abandoned me. He comforted me when I was crying. He even let me sleep in his bed when I was cold. I’m in love. I’ve fallen in love with Eren. A boy who I’m sure will never be mine. My shadow is small on my right. “I finally have a person who cares about me,” I whisper to him. “But nothing more than that.”


	5. Changing.

A week has passed. I still live with Eren and I have decided to confess to him this evening, after his parents and sister leave to go to Rosie’s school. “What kind of pizza do you want?” Eren shouts from the kitchen. “A Hawaiian, please,” I answer. He orders two pizzas and mutters something after it which I can’t understand. He comes back to the living room and sits next to me. My hands are shaking. My mind is a mess. I’m so goddamn nervous. Eren doesn’t seem to notice. A few minutes pass with no word being said. “Eren, I need to tell you something,” I begin. He looks at me, curious. “Eren, I-“ The bell rings. “Ah! The pizza must be here! I’m sorry, can it wait a minute? Or else they’ll get cold,” he says, already standing up. I nod and look the other way. I hear Eren opening the door, thanking the other for the pizza and asking for a kiss. Huh? The other scolds him, but then I hear a kissing sound. The other is Levi. The door closes and Eren comes back with a big smile on his face and two pizza boxes in his hands. “So, what did you want to tell me?” Eren asks. “U-uh, never mind. It wasn’t really important,” I say quickly, grabbing my pizza and I start eating. “Please tell me! You made me curious!” Eren insists. He comes dangerously close to my face. Too bad I have my mouth stuffed with pizza, or else I would’ve kissed him. I swallow it and, somehow, I immediately start to cry. I’m quite a crybaby, aren’t I? “H-hey, what’s wrong?” Eren asks worried. I can’t tell him. It would ruin everything. I let my pizza be and run upstairs. The first room I see is the bathroom, so I run in there and lock the door. “Hey! Are you okay? Please don’t do anything to hurt yourself in there!” Eren shouts from the other side. “Please let me in. Or is it because of me? Then tell me what I did wrong. Or did something happen at school? Please tell me!” I’m sorry, Eren.. I can’t.

That night, I gathered most of my stuff and I went back to my own home. From my bed I hear my mother moaning quite loudly. It makes me feel filthy, knowing my mother is fucking someone at this moment, with one of her children sleeping a few rooms away. Did she even notice I came home? I doesn’t matter. She’s not a real mom anymore, after all.

Weeks pass. Mom’s bullying got worse and I’ve lost quite a few pounds. With some advice of my sister about make-up, I managed to cover up the scars pretty well. I only said things that needed to be said to Eren. Eren and Levi are now officially a couple. The whole school went completely nuts. Two popular guys were now going out with each other, wow. That sounded quite sassy. I sigh and stare at my shadow. He’s still there. The only one. I shouldn’t say that, I walked away from Eren myself. I take my lunch out of my bag. I sit down with my back against the fence of the roof. The door opens and Hanji steps on the roof. “There you are,” she says with a smile and sits down next to me. She was looking for me? “I noticed you’ve been avoiding Eren lately. Why?” Why would she want to know? “Some things happened,” I answer, not looking at her. “Things? As in, things?” She nudges my shoulder, giggling. “It’s.. the opposite.” Then, I blurt out everything what happened that evening. Why, I don’t know. Why to Hanji, I don’t know. She hugs me when I start to cry. She makes me feel at ease, even though this is only the second time I’ve really talked to her. “Eren was everything I ever wanted. And I walked away from him, without even trying.”

I’m about to leave the school grounds when Hanji stops me. “Let me give you some advice, kid,” she says. “First, report your mother to the police. What she does to you is not normal.” She saw? How? “Second, tell Eren. He deserves to know and so you can be at ease too.” She smiles a last time and walks away. I watch her walking away. She’ll make it in life. I bet she’ll find a nice husband and she’ll have nice children. Why am I thinking that? I feel a tap on my shoulder and I turn around. “Hanji said you needed to tell me something,” Eren says. Levi stands next to him. I need to say it now. “Well?” I take a deep breath and say it in one go: “Eren, after everything I’m still in love with you, but I know you won’t be mine so I hope you’ll have a great life with Levi.” He looks astonished at me. Then he looks at the ground. “Thank you. I hope you’ll have a great life yourself, too,” he says. He takes Levi’s hand and walks away.

That was it. Goodbye, Eren. Thank you, for the times you made me feel appreciated. For the times you made me feel like a normal human being. I love you.


	6. Epilogue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you all for reading this fic!  
> Second, if you like sad endings, you can choose not to read this epilogue. You can see the story as finished with the previous chapter, but because I felt really depressed when I ended it there, I decided to write this part as a bonus.  
> Happy reading ^.^

\- _Hanji here! How did it go?_

How did she get my number? From Eren, maybe?

\- He was shocked  
\- _That’s all?_  
\- I wished them a happy life, he thanked me for it  
\- Why?  
- _What, why?_  
\- Why are you helping me?  
\- _Can’t I help a friend_?

A.. friend? She called me her friend. I am someone’s friend. Not even Eren called me his friend directly. Even though I barely spoke to her, she calls me her friend.

\- _You’re still there?_  
\- Sorry, I was a little surprised  
\- _Why?_  
\- You called me your friend  
\- _Is that a bad thing?_  
\- No, it just..  
\- No one has ever called me his or her friend before  
\- _You’re kidding, right?_  
\- I wish I was  
\- _Well, friend, you have your first one right here_!  
\- Thank you, Hanji  
\- Thank you so much

It didn’t stay as friends too long. We hung out a lot, and then, at one day, she kissed me. Just like that. She smiled and told me she had fallen in love with me. I cried again, of course. Eight years later, I proposed to her. She was angry and threw her own box with a ring to my head. The same day, she wanted to propose to me too. I laughed, hugged her, kissed her. Our wedding was beyond perfect. Even Eren and Levi managed to come. My sister had tears in her eyes and held Trace’s hands tightly. They got married a few years ago. Mom changed drastically. She quit drinking and she has found a man who she would love to spend the rest of her life with. In the end, it turned out well. Different than expected, but hey, different doesn’t mean wrong, right? Thank you, Eren. Thank you, Hanji. I’m glad I could meet you.


End file.
